Active, former Navy aviators among 8 new astronaut trainees

Jun. 17, 2013 - 05:25PM
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Two Navy aviators — one active, one former — are among NASA’s latest astronaut trainees, a group of eight individuals selected from more than 6,100 applicants, the agency announced Monday.

Lt. Cmdr. Victor Glover, 37, and former Lt. Cmdr. Josh Aaron Cassada, 39, are two of the six selectees with military backgrounds, a list that includes two active-duty Army majors, a Marine major and an Air Force lieutenant colonel.

Glover, who was commissioned in 1999, is serving as a Navy legislative fellow with Congress, according to the release. Before that, the pilot served with the “Dambusters” of Strike Fighter Squadron 195 out of Yokosuka, Japan, according to Navy personnel records.

Cassada left service in April, according to personnel records, last serving with the Defense Contract Management Agency in Kent, Wash. Before that, the aerospace engineering duty officer (engineering) served as an instructor at Naval Test Pilot School in Patuxent River, Md.

Marine Maj. Nicole Mann, 35, graduated from the test pilot school, according to her NASA bio, and has degrees from Stanford and the Naval Academy. She’s one of four women in the eight-person class — the highest percentage of women in a class in the agency’s history, NASA said in a press release.